Bowl-O-Rama sets its pins for the future

PORTSMOUTH — Nick Genimatas' first job at Bowl-O-Rama, which his father opened in 1956, was at the snack bar.

Andrew Leibs

PORTSMOUTH — Nick Genimatas' first job at Bowl-O-Rama, which his father opened in 1956, was at the snack bar.

"Frappes were big back then," recalled Genimatas, now the owner. The snack bar went out with the 1970s vending machine craze and the space was later rented to the Scoreboard Lounge.

At the end of 2008, however, Champs, the family fun center's new food venue, opened where the snack bar, vending machines and the Scoreboard Lounge once stood, offering hand-tossed pizzas, appetizers, ice cream and beer and wine.

As a business, bowling has its own automatic return, Genimatas said.

"Bowling does not surge — not like roller-skating, all peaks and valleys," he said. "Bowling always ranks among our nation's Top 3 leisure activities."

What has changed, he said, is how people socialize, an insight that enabled Bowl-O-Rama to evolve into its sixth decade.

"Years ago, you'd work at the same place your whole career. If you worked at the shipyard, those were your friends, you'd go out, you'd bowl together. Nowadays, rather than organizing around work or clubs, bowling is organized around family and casual friends."

In 1956, 80 percent of Bowl-O-Rama's business was league play. Today, 80 percent is open play, public bowling and birthday parties.

"It's not a bad thing; it's just different," Genimatas said.

Also different — to traditionalists, anyway — is Bowl-O-Rama's candlepin game, a regional phenomenon.

"It's a New England tradition," Genimatas said. "This is what we do. People take pride in that, and it works."

Candlepin balls are manufactured in Medway, Mass. Newer ones are clear acrylic and might display a logo in the center. They are 4.5 inches in diameter and average 2.5 pounds, small and light enough to be thrown by almost anyone. This has helped transform a league sport into a family game. The 15-inch plastic pins are made in Saco, Maine. Genimatas has a woman who spends eight hours every Tuesday washing two or three lanes' worth of pins in a pin-washing machine and applying a new stripe of red electrical tape.

A Brunswick bowling products representative recently told Genimatas he visited Bowl-O-Rama in the '70s, saw the candlepins, and said, "This won't last — we will wipe them out." Thirty years later, the representative told Genimatas, "I'm looking around and saying, 'It's not going to happen.'"

Nearly three-quarters of New Hampshire bowling alleys are candlepin and most of the Seacoast's 10-pin lanes are long gone.

Other renovations include replacement of vintage 1970s furniture with new pieces, including sofas and coffee tables and oval tables with swivel chairs, "almost like you'd see at a mall food court," Genimatas said. Unlike the older tables built for keeping score, the oval tables accommodate a family's food and drinks, so patrons can eat, drink and bowl.

Genimatas will convert part of the old Scoreboard Lounge into corporate function space. Bowl-O-Rama plans a grand reopening this summer.

Other innovations, such as "cosmic" bowling with disco lights, strobes and a disc jockey blasting music, and "bumper" bowling, where inflatable tubes make gutters a vital part of the game, have broadened bowling's appeal among all age groups.

"Bumper bowling is the most important change in the past 25 years for keeping bowling fresh and popular," Genimatas said. "With the bumpers, kids knock down pins every time."

Genimatas cherishes moments asking young kids if they beat their parents. They often do, they say.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.

Advertise

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
seacoastonline.com ~ 111 New Hampshire Ave., Portsmouth, NH 03801 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service